FB Corse

There have been doubts hanging over the fate of the FB Corse project almost from the moment it was announced. There were question marks about the state of the engine, worries about team financing, and problems with testing. After a test at Valencia, an initial press release announcing they had been accepted into the MotoGP championship had to be withdrawn, after Franco Uncini stated that the team had made good progress, but not enough to qualify for the grid. A later test for the bike planned at Misano had to be called off, after Garry McCoy, who had been contracted to test and race the bike, pulled out with a flu.

That withdrawal seems to have been the final nail in the coffin of the project. Today, McCoy announced that he and FB Corse have decided to terminate their relationship. No reason for the withdrawal was given, but it seems logical to conclude that a lack of technical progress combined with the question marks hanging over the project's finances have forced McCoy to decide that enough was enough.

The debut of the FB Corse bike at Valencia this week is perhaps best described as a moderate success. The three cylinder bike built by Oral Engineering demonstrated that it was reliable and had plenty of potential, though it was still at a very early stage of development. Garry McCoy lapped Valencia at around 1'40, well off the pace but not bad for a shakedown test run without any electronics. So far, the FB Corse has not been admitted to the MotoGP entry list, but a couple more tests should help get the bike ready to be examined again in time for the Jerez round of MotoGP at the beginning of May.

After the jubilant tone in yesterday's press release from FB Corse, today the team have been forced to issue a retraction. The team had run a timed test at Valencia in front of Franco Uncini as Dorna representative, to demonstrate that they deserved to be on the MotoGP grid and that the team was capable of being competitive if they were allowed to enter. As reported here and at GPOne.com, Uncini was impressed by the FB01 machine, but felt it was still some way from being ready to race. With some more testing, Uncini said, they could possibly join the grid when MotoGP returned to Europe.

The team, however got a little ahead of itself. They immediately issued a press release stating they were to be admitted to the grid from Jerez, the third round of the series, and expressing their determination to compete at the highest level.

News travels fast, and sometimes it arrives too quickly to make sense of. After reporting earlier that Dorna representative Franco Uncini said the FB Corse bike was "not yet ready to race," FB Corse have announced their intention to do just that. However, just as Uncini recommended, FB Corse have decided against joining the grid at Qatar, spending their money on developing the bike instead, to be ready for the first European round of MotoGP at Jerez on May 2nd.

Uncini had pronounced himself impressed with the bike, developed by the renowned Oral Engineering, who have a long and illustrious history in Formula One, but felt that the bike needed more development before it would be ready to compete at the highest level. That was obvious from the lap times: according to SportMediaset, McCoy's best lap was a 1'40, about 7.5 seconds off Casey Stoner's lap record of 1'32.582. But given that this was the bike's first proper foray onto the track, and that the laps were run without any electronics at all, the team stands a good chance of using the obvious room there is for improvement.

As the established MotoGP field warm their engines for the final test of the season at Qatar starting on Thursday, back in Europe, another bike has been auditioning to join the show. At Valencia today, the FB Corse team ran a timed test in front of Franco Uncini, Dorna and IRTA's representative sent to evaluate the project, with the hope of impressing Uncini sufficiently that the team and their rider Garry McCoy would be admitted as the 18th official entry into the MotoGP class.

Their hopes have been dashed, however. Uncini's verdict, though full of praise for the team, is negative, and the FB Corse team will not be allowed to start the season at Qatar. Speaking to GPOne.com, Uncini described the project as "interesting," but said what the FB Corse really needed was more time and more miles on the bike to develop it further and refine it before it is ready to race.

The status of the FB Corse project has been shrouded in mystery ever since the Italian team announced they would be contesting the 2010 MotoGP season. Though the bike has been officially presented, and details about the three-cylinder MotoGP machine widely circulated, the bike has yet to turn a wheel in public, and no one knows whether the bike is even capable of achieving race speeds. This latter point has caused some concern inside IRTA, the organization representing the race teams and charged with ensuring the quality of the teams involved. IRTA boss Mike Trimby told MCN last week that FB Corse would not be allowed to take part in MotoGP until the bike had demonstrated its competitiveness, by lapping at a Grand Prix circuit within three seconds of race pace.

FB Corse has now risen to that challenge. Today, the team issued a press release stating that Garry McCoy is to test the FB01 at Valencia on the 15th and 16th of March, before running a timed test in front of Franco Uncini, who will be watching the test on behalf of Dorna. A representative from IRTA will also be present to monitor the test, to ensure the team is proficient enough to be allowed into the MotoGP paddock.

The FB Corse MotoGP bike took a step closer to finding its way onto the grid today. According to the Italian sports broadcaster Sport Mediaset, the team has been given a special dispensation by Dorna and the FIM to test the bike outside of the official MotoGP testing events, with a contracted rider rather than a test rider. As a consequence, Garry McCoy has until February 28th - this coming Sunday - to test the bike and demonstrate the machine is fast enough to make it a worthy entry to the MotoGP class.

After months of speculation and controversy, the FB Corse Team finally unveiled their MotoGP machine and team at the offices of a radio station in Milan today. At the official launch, which had been delayed from the end of January, the team presented their FB01 three cylinder 800cc MotoGP bike, designed and built by Oral Engineering, as part of a project originally started for BMW several years ago.

After being dropped by the German manufacturer, development of the bike has continued on the test bench. But the FB01 is yet to turn a wheel on track. "We will continue to test on the dyno, and expect to take to the track towards the end of February," Mauro Forghieri, the bike's designer, told MotoCorse.com. The reason the bike had not been tested was because it was unclear how such testing would be viewed by Dorna and IRTA. The team is still not officially entered into MotoGP, though FB Corse say that this is just a formality. Once the team is entered with Garry McCoy as the official rider, McCoy would be subject to the same testing regulations as the rest of the field. The other teams and manufacturers would have to agree to allow FB Corse do private testing with McCoy before the Australian could safely take to the track.